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OT - What would you put in a Hope Chest for your son and daughter?

I want dh to build a Hope Chest,one for each of our kiddos.In my dd I want to put her crochet baby blankets and an adult size one I plan on crocheting,a really nice Bible with a devotional book, a book of recipes that are hand written family favorites,a set of dishes,pots and pans,a good fiction book possibly about the bond of mothers and daughters,family pics so she has some....I can't really think of any thing else except a envelope of cash and a letter from me about how much I love her and how proud I am. In ds I would like to put the blankets,Bible with devotion book,a set of dishes and such,a book about the bond between Father and Son,family pics,a letter from his Dad,a nice tool set,the envelope with cash,the knife his great grandfather gave his Dad,....I just can't think of what else to put in them.We plan to burn their names into the chests and give it to them when they marry or move away from home. Sorry its so long but any ideas? Thanks. :-) oh and I know men usually don't receive Hope Chest but I think its a good way for him to start life with something and still feel connected with his home.

I would put family recipes in your son's as well. Food is such a powerful connector to people you love. I kept their first outfits that they wore home from the hospital. I don't think I have a hope chest (or even that kind of collection), but I have a box of their important religious events and such. If they survive being torn apart and gone through by the kids now, they'll be passed along when they leave the house.

Hope chests are awesome! I always wished I had had one. So I guess I better start getting them together for my kids! I hadn't really thought about it, but I do save lots of their things. DD is my stepdaughter, so I don't have anything from her mothers side or her first outfit she wore home, but I do have blankets I have made for her and some of my favorite baby outfits of hers (I've known her since she was 5 months old :)

I really want to eventually make my kids scrap quilts out of pieces of things like sports tshirts and travel tshirts, things they have kept as momentos, I would like to incorporate into a quilt (but I don't know how to quilt, lol).

Everything in my life revolves around "when we buy a house"...when we buy a house I will ask DH to build hope chests (and I will exercise regularly, and I will cook more things from scratch, and I will pay more attention to my garden, and I will grow fresh herbs year round, and I will vacuum every day...the list goes on).

Anyway, I think your lists are awesome and I hope I remember it all when I eventually do something for my kids. I can't think of anything else I'd add, maybe some favorite baby toys, or a childhood book they loved. I think a letter from mom and a letter from dad for BOTH kids would be nice.

I have several outfits from each child as they have grown. I keep their 4th of July outfits.
They also have blankets my grandma made before she passed, outfits and jewelry from India the in laws got them.

I have also been working on scrap books that have cute things they have done and letters I have wrote them. I have been writing to each of them since before they were born. Those are going in there.

I have been working on a family tree for my side of the family. My husbands side is really hard because his parents came over from India right before he was born.

They will all four get a dishes set and pots and pans.

They also get new ornaments each Christmas and those will go in so their tree does not start off empty.

daughters got baby pictures, various things from there grandmas like crocheted dollies, scrubbers, hats,slippers, emroidered table cloths and dresser scarves, needle point pictures, old dishes from there grand parents and aunts, a recipe/ household book that i made for each of them, quilts from grandpa, couple baby quilts, 1 krugerrand(sp),various books, there baby scrapbooks, when they marry i put in soaps , lotions, herbal ointments etc i make and they are use to using along with a recipe book on how to make them, and a kitchen aide

for our son book of recipes/household, quilts, knives passed down, couple of guns passed down, his baby scrapbook, set of screwdrivers and sockets, one of those old pocket watches that was great grandpas,1 krugerrand(sp)flashlights, set of louis lamour books, various other tools, and a welder, instead of a chest we used gpas old old tool chest and filled it.

since our first grandchild is on the way my dh has started a new tradition at the baby shower of giving a running stroller or normal stroller and a video camera for the first child in each family, he wants to make sure he gets picturers

I got my baby clothes that were left, all of my childhood medical and dental records, the family court records chronicling my parents' messy and lengthy divorce and subsequent custody/support battles (yeahhhhhh... That's a weird inclusion, IMO), a set of cookware, bakeware, flatware, bedding, heirloom crochet and quilt pieces from my great-grandmother, kitchen cloths, table linens, cash, and a set of tools. I think I remember things like a new photo album and a family Bible, but that probably came later. I left home at seventeen and married young, so my memories are fuzzy.
I have boys and hope chests aren't so necessary for them, I guess. ODS got a full bathroom and bedroom outfit, and he has new kitchen stuff packed up and ready for him when he needs it (he lives with XH now and may be moving back home). He will get most of the family silver and crystal, most likely, and LO will get other heirloom pieces. I lived a much more comfortable lifestyle during the second half of ODS's upbringing than I do now, so I purchased quality, practical tools and pieces for him for years. He has household tools, furniture, luggage, linens, and other goodies waiting for him in storage. If the economy gets any worse (and let's face it, we are headed for a global repeat of the decade-long Great Depression), LO will just be stuck with odd hand-me-downs from the family, I guess. I have nearly completed the written histories of our families for the boys, and I have fairly complete genealogies for them. I do feel that the women in my family have been the ones to carry forth the histories, and I wish I had a daughter to pass it on.

They sound like fun. We have no family heirlooms or family recipies because we don't have much family. We weren't raised with anything special.

I guess my MIL has a huge chest of Christmas tree ornaments the kids will get handed down. She has worked all her life for one of the big card/greeting companies. She has collected MANY of them through the years. They've tried to hand out a few things in DH family, like an old desk or rocking chair. However, we just never had space to keep it nice, so we declined it.

Anyway, have any of you thought of putting special Christmas ornaments in their chests? Of course, that means not using them yourself, or remembering to put them in their chest as they leave home. I haven't read replies yet, so if some one said it already, I'm sorry.

oh, recently, I thought of doing it as a "rite of passage"... like pick an age and let the kids have an empty chest that we can start filling for their futures (marriages or whatnot)... They could fill them with what THEY want.

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